brake dragging 5ktq

[John S. Lagnese]

I had a similar problem with my 91 200 TQ 20V. It was the master cylinder. I 
got a nice used one from Chris @ Force 5.
That kind of heat may have damaged your bearings.
John
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Doyt W. Echelberger" <doyt at buckeye-express.com>
To: <quattro at audifans.com>
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 10:17 PM
Subject: brake dragging 5ktq


> Gotta check with the wisdom of the list. My 87 5ktq brakes are not fully
> releasing, and at times are dragging significantly....but only on the
> driver side, and not in a predictable pattern.
>
> I don't drive the car every day, and with this brake drag problem I drive
> it even less. Maybe I drive it one week and then not the next at all, or
> let it sit two weeks at a time.
>
> Last week I drove the car 4 miles, going about 55mph for the first two
> miles.  I could feel a brake drag when I pulled out of the driveway.  On
> the highway for about two seconds the drag slowed the car down a little 
> bit
> and then seemed to let up, so I kept going.
>
> At the two mile mark I stopped and walked around the car, looking at the
> rotors and feeling the wheels for heat.  The driver-rear rotor was glowing
> a medium red and the wheel was hot...too hot to touch. I figured it was
> cooking the grease out of the hub and it scared me a little. Never saw it
> glow red that way before. Pretty alarming.  The other wheels were normal.
>
> I turned the car around and drove it back home at a _greatly_ reduced
> speed, maybe 25-30 mph, and parked it, thankful that the trip didn't
> require a flat bed. Then I went inside and let it cool off for a few days
> while I thought about it.
>
> OK, so it cooled off. Wonder if it will do that again? Did the same 2 mile
> drive, and there was some brake drag, but when I stopped and did the same
> walk-around, all the wheels felt normal except the driver-front, which was
> warmer than my hand but not hot enough to make me pull my hand
> away....maybe 140 degrees F ? That rear rotor was normal.  Now the front
> driver caliper was acting up.
>
> Big mystery. Gotta take the system apart and look at everything first.
> Drove to shop, let everything cool for a day, put car on a lift and pulled
> all 4 wheels and checked calipers and tested the pins that usually hang 
> up,
> and checked both rear emergency brake cables and levers.  Up on the lift
> everything working and loose like it should be.
>
> Put the wheels on and drove it on the streets again and the brakes started
> dragging again, so I parked it and sat down to write the list.
>
> OK, what are the facts/history:  I've been running the car with the ABS
> electricals disconnected where they plug in at the ABS controller under 
> the
> back seat.  Did that because the sensors were getting confused by the
> corrosion on the cogs in the hubs, and cleaning the cogs didn't stop the
> shudder during the last few yards of a rolling stop. Disconnecting the
> electricals of the ABS worked fine for about 5 years, and I really didn't
> miss it very much.
>
> Replaced the MC a few years ago because it was very old and was causing a
> creeping increase in pressure as the brake fluid heated up on a long
> drive.....but that involved both front calipers grabbing, and replacing 
> the
> MC corrected the condition.
>
> The pads and calipers and rotors and flexible lines are not the originals
> and are all only a few years old, as are the hard brake lines. I even
> replaced all the rusty old brake lines at the rear, when I replaced the 
> gas
> tank last year. And the brake fluid is about a year old.
>
> If a channel of the MC were causing a problem, I'd expect some drag in a
> front and a rear on opposite sides. I've had a bad MC and it acted 
> different.
>
> So, I suspect a problem somewhere in the old ABS unit under the hood in
> front of the driver.  It is rather mysterious, and I don't know much about
> it, and it's electricals are disconnected. But it has the ability to 
> affect
> one wheel at a time because I think that is how it worked to perform its 
> magic.
>
> There you have it.  Any lister been there and done that and fixed
> anything?  I'd like to drive this old workhorse another winter.  I'm
> considering re-attaching the ABS electricals and letting it chatter a few
> times, if it will still  do that.  Maybe chattering will change something.
>
> That's about all I can think to do.
>
> Replies appreciated.
>
> Doyt Echelberger
> still alive and living in Ohio and trying to keep an amazing old car 
> going.
>
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